The Gordion Knot fanzine, Birmingham, 14 November 1980 (after the
concert)
Robert
: I really enjoy playing live. Like in the encores, it was really good fun
to say "Right let's play Gary Glitter", it was like being young
again and just playing in a group, and I'd hate to lose that feeling. That's
why we'd never become too serious, or too atmospheric, or too melancholic.
I mean it seems to be accepted that if people aren't smiling they aren't enjoying
it. I really enjoy it when things are really intense. Like, one of the songs
we did again, I was really ranting and raving, and I really enjoyed that,
but I couldn't smile because there was nothing to smile about. It's just a
good feeling and I hate to lose that. But it's nice to still be able to do
something like Gary Glitter and actually have an audience that enjoyed it
as well - rather than if we were Spandau Ballet or someone and try to prove
we are bleak then we wouldn't be able to do that because then people would
say "You're not supposed to do that".
- How much new stuff has been written since "Seventeen Seconds" and how does it compare to previous Cure material?
Robert : There's quite a few new songs, but there's only about five that I like. But I can't really say how they compare to old stuff since they've not actually been done in the studio, 'cos the ones we did tonight have only just been worked out, and 'til we actually do them in the studio I can't really tell how they're going to turn out. I never actually like to write the words to songs until they are recorded. What we usually do is record the music with ideas of what the song is about and then write the words and make them fit exactly with the music rather than the other way around.
- How do you feel about the press in general ?
Robert : If there's anything in the press about us I always read it but I don't take much notice. I used to get really upset about things they'd write about us - but they just write to sell papers, anyway. There's some journalists that I respect, I think Paul Morley (NME) is a good journalist. The press are quite strange with us, like some will really like us, while others will hate us. But I prefer it that way than for them to whitewash over us as if they didn't care either way.
- What does Smith think of the Cure, would he, for example, buy their records ?
Robert : Oh yeah. That's the only criteria I'd apply to what we do, if I like it or not. I don't, like say, think about an audience.
- If anything should have been a hit, it should have been "Boys Don't Cry".
Robert : Yeah, I'm glad about that, really. I'm not being facetious, but I am glad because I always think if those singles had been successful, especially "Boys Don't Cry", which was brought out because I thought it was a really good song, then we would have been boxed as a band that did pop songs, and then "Seventeen Seconds" would never have really come about, I don't think. So it's good 'cos I like it that people buy our records because they're interested. I wouldn't like it if they went out and bought them just 'cos it was the Cure. I'd hate to get to that stage...
In fact "Seventeen Seconds" sold more copies in each European country than in England. But we're not worried about commercial success, it's not important. We're out of debt, "17 Seconds" got us out of debt. So, we've got to the point where we can actually do what we like with our next album. We can do the album however we want, wherever we want, package it however we want, -so it'll be a triple album - each album produced by one of us, all for the price of a single album !
- Is "17 Seconds" an autobiographical album ? I base this assumption on the liberal use of the words 'I', 'me', and 'you' in the lyrics, especially "A Forest".
Robert : Yeah it was. Lol wrote an original song called 'A Forest' and I changed it, 'cos I thought it was a great title and the idea was good but I didn't like the song. So, I changed the words to fit in with a more real life situation, 'cos I was lost in a forest once when I was little. At the time I thought it was scary 'cos it still stays with me that it's much scarier pushing through wet trees than it is pretending that you're lost in a crowd. You, sort of, build yourself up to animal-type reactions, being actually lost and mentally lost...
(Interview/Photo : Graham Hopkins)
(Thanks to Marika for the scan !)
- How much new stuff has been written since "Seventeen Seconds" and how does it compare to previous Cure material?
Robert : There's quite a few new songs, but there's only about five that I like. But I can't really say how they compare to old stuff since they've not actually been done in the studio, 'cos the ones we did tonight have only just been worked out, and 'til we actually do them in the studio I can't really tell how they're going to turn out. I never actually like to write the words to songs until they are recorded. What we usually do is record the music with ideas of what the song is about and then write the words and make them fit exactly with the music rather than the other way around.
- How do you feel about the press in general ?
Robert : If there's anything in the press about us I always read it but I don't take much notice. I used to get really upset about things they'd write about us - but they just write to sell papers, anyway. There's some journalists that I respect, I think Paul Morley (NME) is a good journalist. The press are quite strange with us, like some will really like us, while others will hate us. But I prefer it that way than for them to whitewash over us as if they didn't care either way.
- What does Smith think of the Cure, would he, for example, buy their records ?
Robert : Oh yeah. That's the only criteria I'd apply to what we do, if I like it or not. I don't, like say, think about an audience.
- If anything should have been a hit, it should have been "Boys Don't Cry".
Robert : Yeah, I'm glad about that, really. I'm not being facetious, but I am glad because I always think if those singles had been successful, especially "Boys Don't Cry", which was brought out because I thought it was a really good song, then we would have been boxed as a band that did pop songs, and then "Seventeen Seconds" would never have really come about, I don't think. So it's good 'cos I like it that people buy our records because they're interested. I wouldn't like it if they went out and bought them just 'cos it was the Cure. I'd hate to get to that stage...
In fact "Seventeen Seconds" sold more copies in each European country than in England. But we're not worried about commercial success, it's not important. We're out of debt, "17 Seconds" got us out of debt. So, we've got to the point where we can actually do what we like with our next album. We can do the album however we want, wherever we want, package it however we want, -so it'll be a triple album - each album produced by one of us, all for the price of a single album !
- Is "17 Seconds" an autobiographical album ? I base this assumption on the liberal use of the words 'I', 'me', and 'you' in the lyrics, especially "A Forest".
Robert : Yeah it was. Lol wrote an original song called 'A Forest' and I changed it, 'cos I thought it was a great title and the idea was good but I didn't like the song. So, I changed the words to fit in with a more real life situation, 'cos I was lost in a forest once when I was little. At the time I thought it was scary 'cos it still stays with me that it's much scarier pushing through wet trees than it is pretending that you're lost in a crowd. You, sort of, build yourself up to animal-type reactions, being actually lost and mentally lost...
(Interview/Photo : Graham Hopkins)
(Thanks to Marika for the scan !)